Why does MATLAB hang when trying to start on Windows Vista or Windows 7?

Cannot start MATLAB on windows Vista. MATLAB hangs at the splash screen.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

This occurs because MATLAB is unable to generate the preferences directory needed to start MATLAB. You will need to manually create the preferences folder for the MATLAB version:

The directory is:

C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\MathWorks\MATLAB\<version>

Example: C:\Users\jdoe\AppData\Roaming\MathWorks\MATLAB\R2007a

Once this folder has been created, start MATLAB once again, as it should now open successfully.